Tencent and Razer announce new collaboration across mobile hardware, software, and services

Razer has announced it is partnering with Tencent across three areas of collaboration: hardware, software, and services.

The partnership between peripheral specialist Razer and Chinese megacorp Tencent – which is the global publisher for PUBG Mobile and Honour of Kings/Arena of Valor – will see the companies "combine their strengths to serve the world’s 2.4 billion active mobile gamers by pushing the boundaries of mobile gaming hardware, software and services".

Tencent will work with Razer to "optimise" Tencent mobile games for Razer’s hardware, including the Razer Phone and mobile accessories such as Razer’s mobile controllers. Tencent and Razer will also explore "additional monetization opportunities for mobile gaming", including integrating Razer services.

In terms of software, the collaboration will purportedly see the companies working together "on optimising Tencent’s mobile games for Razer’s mobile game platforms and the Razer Cortex mobile game launcher", as well as "explore the use" of Razer technologies within Tencent mobile games, such as Chroma RGB lighting.

"Mobile gaming keeps growing at an incredible pace and at Razer, we are poised to be a leader in the segment. We have been working with Tencent since 2008 and are excited to now enter into a collaboration with them to spearhead future innovation in the space," said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer. "With the strengths of Tencent and Razer combined, we are going to supercharge the mobile gaming industry."

Tencent recently announced new rules for streamers in a bid to appease China’s strict new internet legislation. The rules – which "will be strictly observed by Tencent" – have been introduced to meet new internet governance laws brought in by Chinese authorities a few weeks ago.

Last year Tencent announced it will be restructuring for the first time in six years following increasing challenges dealing with Chinese governmental regulations for the gaming industry. The megacorp was hit with a fall in profits for the first time in 13 years owing to the very same Chinese regulatory issues that have pushed the decision to restructure.

About Vikki Blake

It took 15 years of civil service monotony for Vikki to crack and switch to writing about games. She has since become an experienced reporter and critic working with a number of specialist and mainstream outlets in both the UK and beyond, including Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, IGN, MTV, and Variety.